Leadership Development News Roundup: Delivering Effective Presentations Edition

The ability to effectively present information to groups is a crucial leadership skill. Whether the presentation is to a few teammates or thousands of shareholders, your composure and delivery will be judged, just as much as the content of your presentation.If you’re a leader working on presentation skills or a mentor trying to help someone else, this week’s Leadership Development News Roundup can help. It has a collection of articles and blog posts with advice on becoming a better public speaker and delivering effective presentations.

• 5 Tips to Great Public Speaking. Inc.: “Prepare, prepare, prepare. Good preparation means knowing your audience and writing your speech for the specific group you will be addressing. You've got to make sure each person in your audience can find something to which he or she can relate. Good preparation also includes knowing your subject matter inside and out. If you need to do some research, get to it.”

• Big Presentation? 7 Tips To Help You Take Risks and Wow Your Audience. Vault: “A PowerPoint slide deck filled with text and bullets lulls your audience to sleep. But enhanced by colorful and evocative images, that same presentation will keep your audience's attention. In addition, it gives you the opportunity to tell an intriguing story of what the pictures demonstrate, which will make you a more compelling speaker to listen to.”

• 5 Tips to Maintain Control of Your Next Q&A Session. CharlesGreene.com: “Don’t end your presentation with Q&A.  Although most presentations end with the Q&A, superior speakers don’t.  Ending with Q&A could allow an off-topic question to drag you on a tangent away from your main message.  The better strategy is to follow your Q&A session with a short closing that recaps your main message points.  Regardless of the last question asked, ending with a brief recap will redirect attention back to your message.  You get the final word as you deliver a lasting impression of your message.”

• What Kids Can Teach You About Presenting Skills. Delucchi Plus: “Even six-year-olds like agendas and having expectations set. On the first day of Sunday School, Gavin, one of our students, walked in, introduced himself, sat down, looked around and asked me if he could give feedback on the class. Wow, feedback already and this kid hadn’t been sitting in class for more than two minutes! His feedback was as follows: One, he likes when there is an agenda on the board so he knows what he is doing that day; and two, last year his teachers gave him ice cream every Sunday and let him play on the big kid playground. I was shocked when he said this, but come to think of it I’ve never walked into a client meeting without an agenda and stating the purpose of the meeting to set expectations.”

• Presentation Skills Are Crucial to Small Business Success. Small Business Computing: “Of the 984 employed respondents, nearly half confessed to being distracted during a co-worker's presentation. The top activities competing for the audience's attention: sending text messages (28 percent); checking email (27 percent); and surfing the Internet (19 percent). Some respondents escaped the tedium by fleeing to Facebook and other social media sites (11 percent). Others simply succumbed and fell asleep (17 percent).”

Let us know if you’d like our help developing your employees’ leadership skills.Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.